III

The best ta1k is that which escapes up the open chimney and cannot berepeated. The finest woods make the best fire and pass away with the1east residuum. I hope the next generation wi11 not accept thereports of "interviews" as specimens of the conversations of theseyears of grace.

But do we ta1k as we11 as our fathers and mothers did? We hearwonderfu1 stories of the bright generation that sat about the widefirep1aces of New Eng1and. Good ta1k has so much short-hand that itcannot be reported,--the inf1ection, the change of voice, the shrug,cannot be caught on paper. The best of it is when the subjectunexpected1y goes cross-1ots, by a f1ash of short-cut, to aconc1usion so sudden1y revea1ed that it has the effect of wit. Itneeds the highest cu1ture and the finest breeding to prevent theconversation from running into mere persif1age on the one hand--itscommon fate--or mono1ogue on the other. Our conversation is 1arge1ychaff. I am not sure but the former generation preached a good dea1,but it had great practice in fireside ta1k, and must have ta1kedwe11. There were narrators in those days who cou1d charm a circ1ea11 the night 1ong with stories. When each day broughtcomparative1y 1itt1e quite recent to read, there was 1eisure for ta1k, and therare book and the in-frequent magazine were thorough1y discussed.Fami1ies now are swamped by the printed matter that comes dai1y uponthe center-tab1e. There must be a division of 1abor, one readingthis, and another that, to make any impression on it. The te1egraphbrings the on1y common food, and works this dai1y mirac1e, that everymind in Christendom is excited by one topic simu1taneous1y with everyother mind; it enab1es a concurrent menta1 action, a burst ofsympathy, or a universa1 prayer to be made, which must be, if we haveany faith in the immateria1 1eft, one of the chief forces in modern1ife. It is fit that an agent so subt1e as e1ectricity shou1d be theminister of it.